Making a difference in the management of tuberculosis: REMoxTB series

Guest editors: Stephen H. Gillespie and Timothy D. McHugh

For most of the world’s population, the problem of tuberculosis remains a present challenge. How do we improve the delivery of tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment so that we can make progress in the elimination of this disease? This series of articles is derived from secondary analysis of data from the first regulatory phase III trial for treatment of tuberculosis in the modern era: REMoxTB. It takes advantage of the unique opportunity provided by diagnosis, treatment adverse event and management data from almost 2000 patients recruited across the world documented in a consistent rigorous manner.

This series sheds light on diagnostics questions such as which is the optimal diagnostic sample, and to what extent can I predict the severity of disease from the chest X-ray? By collating consistent assessment of a large number of patients we can address the question of the toxicity of tuberculosis treatment and how it should be managed. The series brings together a wealth of data to provide a sound evidence base for policy making and planning future research. We believe that it will be of value to clinicians and researchers who aim to finally make tuberculosis a historical disease.

In the REMoxTB study of 4-month treatment-shortening regimens containing moxifloxacin compared to the standard 6-month regimen for tuberculosis, the proportion of unfavourable outcomes for women was similar in...

The incidence and severity of tuberculosis chemotherapy toxicity is poorly characterised. We used data available from patients in the REMoxTB trial to provide an assessment of the risks associated with the sta...

Chest radiographs are used for diagnosis and severity assessment in tuberculosis (TB). The extent of disease as determined by smear grade and cavitation as a binary measure can predict 2-month smear results, b...

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a common complication of tuberculosis treatment. We utilised data from the REMoxTB clinical trial to describe the incidence of predisposing factors and the natural history i...

Tuberculosis kills more people than any other infectious disease, and new regimens are essential. The primary endpoint for confirmatory phase III trials for new regimens is a composite outcome that includes ba...

The use of early morning sputum samples (EMS) to diagnose tuberculosis (TB) can result in treatment delay given the need for the patient to return to the clinic with the EMS, increasing the chance of patients ...